Hey, this is Lisa Ortiz from the American Listening Project. I'm so happy to be here on Swell. The project of ALP is to use stories and the power of to bridge the political divide in America. To cross that divide by listening, what we do is set people up a conservative and a Liberal, and each takes turns talking out for five minutes about his or her opinion about the state of American civic life. And the other person doesn't interrupt. Just listens with the intent to understand
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:15
So I love your instinct about this. I would love to support whatever you want to do with this in terms of organizing conversations. It'd be so interesting to do it in public on this Swell Cast channel. People also have the option to have private swell conversations other just hit the private button and they share each other's usernames and they could drop into a private conversation. It's just an amazing difference. When you read people's arguments or how they present their passions and their convictions
Yeah. Participating in the American Listening Project was a really good experience to have a really honest conversation with a fellow human being and to hear their voice and them telling you what their beliefs are. And you realize there's something more to the beliefs. And that is the voice that you can connect with. It could lose American Listening Project. And I really recommend this project to people
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
But I think it's important to maintain and foster that human connection with the people that we care about and those around us and in our community. So I'm definitely interested in going on this journey at some point. So let me know I'm definitely going to follow and see what more comes my way
Lisa Ortiz
@ALP · 1:44
Hey, Taylor. Yes, you are so right that human connection really requires attention. It is called the Fabric of society because it needs to be held together are so true. And I have been grateful to social media for democratizing voice, but I think it is time to democratize the human capacity for listening. So hey, thanks for reaching out. And I'm not really sure how to do other ALP format on Swell, but it seems like it's going to work out well
Lisa Ortiz
@ALP · 1:03
Thank you, DB for making the space and you are right. Sacred is the word for active listening. When you make a space with someone, you're making a little kind of tempo with them. So true. Hey, there is a consortium of listening activism groups gathered at Listen First. I think it's called Listen First Project. Anyway, we meet time to time. Pierce. Godwin is direct that and they would probably like to be here on Swell. So I'll get them connected
How do we enact change and do we know how powerful we are at a local level? We're actually much more powerful locally than we are at the federal level. The federal thing is so big. So I want to throw that out there
I would love to see how this unfolds, and I totally understand not wanting to do something in a way that sort of creates a spectacle, especially when you're trying to have those meaningful conversations private might be a good way of doing it. Yeah, for sure. And that's definitely possible here on Swell. I know that you can also create panel discussions. So it's like a situation where only the people that you invite to the conversation can respond
That was a really inspiring reply. Mystic scientist. Yeah. The other aftercare after two people have a conversation that's very intimate and scary and beautiful, beautiful at the same time. Yeah. What happens after that? That's a really good thought. Thank you for that
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:15
Hey, Lisa, thank you so much for being here. This sounds awesome, and I would love to take part of it if possible. I've never had an experience quite like that with a stranger. I've had conversations like that. This with certain family members, but not just with the stranger where we just listen. And I think it could be a great learning experience
Kierstin B Bridger
@Kierstin · 2:20
So I'm up for doing it again. But I'm going to pass you over to my PewDiePie here, and I'll let him introduce his name and what he wants to do with the American Listening Project. Hey, Lisa. Scott Bridger here. As Kirsten said, I think it's an incredible opportunity, and I really do look forward to being a part of it. So please count me in as well